Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure children and young people in (a) Dudley, (b) Sedgley and (c) Gornal and Woodsetton can catch up on the education missed during the 2019-20 school year as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government recognises that all children and young people have had their education disrupted due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department has committed to a £1 billion catch-up package to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time on children in England.
The catch-up premium, worth £650 million, provides universal funding which is delivered in 3 payments to schools over the 2020/21 academic year. The Department expects this funding will be spent on the additional activities required to support pupils to catch up in their education.?To help schools make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published a support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up, available here: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/#nav-covid-19-support-guide-for-schools1. EEF have published a further school planning guide: 2020 to 2021, available here: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/guide-to-supporting-schools-planning/.
The first payment of the catch-up premium funding has been made to schools. The autumn payment and provisional allocations for schools in the local authority of Dudley is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-catch-up-premium-provisional-allocations. These allocations are based on the published rates and school census data from October 2019. The final allocations will be re-calculated once the October 2020 school census data is available.
Alongside this, the catch-up package includes a National Tutoring Programme (NTP) for disadvantaged children and young people. This scheme will provide additional, targeted support for disadvantaged 5 to 16 year olds who need the most help to catch up. The programme has 2 pillars which can be accessed by schools. Firstly, schools will be able to access high-quality, subsidised tuition from approved Tuition Partners. Schools in Dudley, Sedgley or Gornal and Woodsetton can access Tuition Partners in their area here: https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/ntp-tuition-partners. The second pillar supports schools in the most disadvantaged areas to employ in-house academic mentors who can provide small group and one-to-one tuition to selected pupils. If schools in Dudley, Sedgley or Gornal and Woodsetton would like to check their eligibility or register their interest for a mentor, they can do so here: https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/hire-academic-mentors.
In addition to the 5 to 16 programme, the NTP will also provide funding to support to small group tuition for 16 to 19 years olds and the improvement of early language skills for reception-aged children. Information about tuition for 16 to 19 year olds is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-16-to-19-tuition-fund. Information about the improvement of early language skills for reception-age children is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/catch-up-premium-coronavirus-covid-19/the-reception-year-early-language-programme-neli.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure children in Dudley who require Speech and Language Therapy receive the support they need in schools.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Supporting the most vulnerable children and young people, including those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), is a priority for us, especially at this time. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, educational settings have been asked to ensure that vulnerable children and young people can attend where appropriate.
Through our contract with nasen, we have funded the Whole School SEND consortium to produce information for families and resources for schools, including training to support teachers to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. A range of resources to equip the workforce to deliver high-quality teaching for all types of SEND, including SLCN, can be found at https://www.sendgateway.org.uk/resources. A number of speech and language organisations are members of the Whole School SEND Consortium, including I CAN, Afasic and The Communication Trust.
Speech and language therapists working with children are employed by local authorities, the health service or directly by schools in response to children’s and young people’s needs in each area, rather than being employed or funded centrally by the department. For this reason, the department does not map services centrally.
Individual local authorities are responsible for their own strategic planning and have statutory requirements to offer SLCN provision where a child or young person requires it as part of their education, health and care plan.
This year we are providing local authorities with £7.2 billion in high needs funding, including an additional £780 million in the 2020-21 financial year.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will ensure that university students receive high-quality teaching following the reduction in their average direct contact time and limited online teaching.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State of Education, and I hold regular meetings with the Office for Students (OfS) leadership. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, these meetings have also involved regularly reviewing and monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and assessment, including the level of in-person teaching provided by universities and the value for money that students are receiving. I have consistently made it clear to the OfS that quality and standards must be maintained.
As I set out in a letter to MPs on 9 October and in a letter to Vice-Chancellors on 2 November, the government’s clear and stated expectation is that, whether higher education providers are delivering face-to-face, online or blended provision, they must continue delivering a high quality academic experience that helps all students achieve qualifications that they and employers value. If there are concerns, the OfS has the powers to act. The OfS has made it clear that HE providers must continue to comply with registration conditions relating to quality and standards, which set out requirements to ensure that courses are high-quality, that students are supported and achieve good outcomes and that standards are protected.
HE providers must continue to comply with their legal obligations under the Equality Act (2010), ensuring that education and learning is accessible to all students. When making changes to the delivery of their courses, HE providers need to consider how they support all students, particularly the most vulnerable, to achieve successful academic and professional outcomes.
The OfS has published information for HE providers, providing practical guidance on how best to ensure students continue to receive a high quality academic experience. The OfS will keep this guidance under review to ensure it remains relevant to the developing circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education has also published a series of guides to support providers to secure academic standards and to support student achievement during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The OfS is taking very seriously the potential impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on teaching and learning and is regularly engaging with all registered HE providers. It is actively monitoring those providers which have moved provision predominantly online due to COVID-19 restrictions to ensure that they maintain the quality of their provision, that it is accessible for all and that they have been clear in their communications with students about how arrangements for teaching and learning may change throughout the year.
The OfS is also following up directly with HE providers where they receive notifications from students, parents or others raising concerns about the quality of teaching on offer. The OfS is also requiring HE providers to report to them when they are not able to deliver a course or award a qualification. If the OfS has concerns, it will investigate further.
Students have rights under consumer law that they can rely on if they are dissatisfied with their HE provider’s response to COVID-19. In the first instance, students should speak to their provider to see if they can resolve their issue. We expect student complaints and appeals processes to be operated flexibly, accessibly and sympathetically by providers to resolve any concerns. If a student at a provider in England or Wales is not satisfied with their provider’s final response, they should go to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, which has published guidance on this issue.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that university students receive high quality teaching during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This is a difficult and uncertain time for students, but we are working with the sector to make sure that all reasonable efforts are being made to enable students to continue their studies.
As I set out in a letter to MPs on 9 October, the government’s expectation is that, whether providers are delivering face-to-face, online or blended provision, quality and academic standards must be maintained. The Office for Students (OfS) has made it clear that higher education (HE) providers must continue to comply with registration conditions relating to quality and standards, which set out requirements to ensure that courses are high-quality, that students are supported and achieve good outcomes and that standards are protected. The OfS have also set out that HE providers must continue to provide sufficient and appropriate facilities, learning resources and student support services to deliver a high-quality academic experience.
HE providers must also continue to comply with their legal obligations under the Equality Act (2010), ensuring that education and learning is accessible to all students. When making changes to the delivery of their courses, providers need to consider how they support all students, particularly the most vulnerable, to achieve successful academic and professional outcomes.
The OfS has published information and guidance for providers and students. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education has also published a series of guides to support providers to secure academic standards and to support student achievement during the COVID-19 outbreak. The guidance is available here: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/news-events/support-and-guidance-covid-19.
The OfS is taking very seriously the potential impacts of the outbreak on teaching and learning and ensuring that they have a clear picture of what students are receiving. The OfS published a statement on 9 October that sets out how it is actively monitoring the quality of online provision at HE providers that have moved predominantly to online provision as a result of local COVID-19 restrictions.
The OfS is directly engaging with those providers to ensure that they maintain the quantity and quality of their provision that is accessible for all. The government fully supports the OfS’s approach – we believe unequivocally that all students deserve a high-quality HE experience and we will continue to work closely with the OfS and providers to ensure that students receive this.
Providers should make all reasonable efforts to provide alternative teaching and support for students broadly equivalent to the provider’s usual arrangements, in circumstances where face-to-face contact is no longer possible. On 3 November, the department published guidance on how the national COVID-19 restrictions affect HE. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-new-national-restrictions-guidance. We have been clear throughout the COVID-19 outbreak that HE providers must maintain the quality of their tuition at all times, regardless of whether a HE provider is delivering its courses through face-to-face teaching, remote online learning, or a combination of both. We have worked with the OfS, who are regularly reviewing online tuition.
Students have rights under consumer law that they can rely on if they are dissatisfied with their provider’s response to COVID-19. In the first instance, students should speak to their provider to see if they can resolve their issue. We expect student complaints and appeals processes to be operated flexibly, accessibly and sympathetically by providers to resolve any concerns. If a student at a provider in England or Wales is not satisfied with their provider’s response, they can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to consider their complaint.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what after-school services are available to children of parents that have returned to work during the covid-19 outbreak in (a) the UK and (b) Dudley North constituency.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We recognise that after-school provision is an important source of additional childcare for working parents and carers.
As of 4 July, all providers offering wraparound childcare and out-of-school activities to children have been able to operate with safety measures in place, both nationally and in Dudley North specifically. The department has updated the guidance for providers who run before and after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school settings for children to support them to operate as safely as possible now that all children have returned to school. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Schools should be working towards resuming any breakfast and after-school provision, as outlined in the guidance for the full opening of schools. Schools should also be working closely with any external wraparound childcare providers, which their pupils may use, to ensure parents can continue to work. The guidance for the full opening of schools is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to implement a summer school programme to help the education of pupils who have not received any teaching during covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As plans continue for a full return to education from September, we have announced a £1 billion COVID “catch-up” package to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time.
This includes £650 million that will be shared across state schools over the 2020-21 academic year. This one-off grant to support pupils recognises that all young people have lost time in education as a result of the outbreak, regardless of their income or background.
The grant has been designed so that school leaders have flexibility and autonomy when choosing how best to support their pupils.??The guide published by the Education Endowment Foundation to help schools make effective choices includes advice on summer schools and a link to a Teach First toolkit for schools that choose to offer this.
Separately, a National Tutoring Programme, worth £350 million, will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people. This will help accelerate their academic progress and tackle the attainment gap between them and their peers.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking with the Department for Health and Social Care to prevent the spread of covid-19 amongst vulnerable students in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
COVID-19 is clearly an unprecedented situation and preventing its spread is the Government’s and Department’s highest priority.
We are working closely with colleagues across Government to ensure that all appropriate arrangements, and support, are in place for all Department for Education sectors – from the early years and childcare to schools and children’s social care, and for vulnerable groups including children with long-term medical conditions.
Schools should continue to support their pupils’ health needs and should follow Public Health England advice at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to protect freedom of speech and promote diverse debate within universities.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This government has committed to strengthen free speech and academic freedom and ensure our universities are places where debate can thrive. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has made it clear that if required he will look at changing the underpinning legal framework. We have made it clear that if universities do not uphold free speech, the government will.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure Dudley College has the (a) funding and (b) teaching staff to deliver effectively the skills required for the future.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The government is committed to developing world-class technical and vocational education in order to level up skills and opportunities across the country and is therefore investing significantly in our further education (FE) institutions and their people.
Dudley College, like all 16-19 providers, will benefit in 2020-21 from £400 million of additional funding announced last August. This is the biggest injection of new money into 16-19 education in a single year since 2010, with 16 to 19 funding increasing at a faster rate than 5 to 16 school funding. This includes an additional £120 million of funding for high cost and high value subjects, £35 million to support students on level 3 courses who did not achieve a grade 4 in GCSE Maths or GCSE English (or who did not achieve a grade 4 in GCSE Maths and GCSE English) and a £10 million increase in resources allocated for the Advanced Maths Premium.
As a 2020 T level provider, Dudley College will also benefit from additional funding for the delivery of T levels, including funding for the extra hours and industry placements, as well as the Early Adopter Development Fund to enable early providers to support the department to co-create high quality courses.
Our ambitions can only be achieved if our FE institutions are able to recruit, retain and develop outstanding FE teachers. We are therefore investing an additional £24 million in programmes designed to boost the FE workforce in 2020-21. This includes £11 million for training bursaries and grants worth up to £26,000 each in priority subjects and £10 million to expand the government’s successful Taking Teaching Further programme, which brings industry professionals into FE teaching. It also includes £3 million for a new high-quality mentor training programme to support FE teachers.